Little Lassie
by Kaytlynn Miller
Summary: This is what happens when Lassiter really wants to put a 15 year old girl behind bars
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

~~The Court House~~

"Order! I will have order in this court room!" yelled Judge Moses. Juliet looked at the fuming Carlton Lassiter and said, "Now Carlton, you heard the verdict, Victoria was found not guilty."

Victoria is a fifteen year old girl that was just tried for fencing Degas's Stage Rehearsal. She was wearing black pinstripe pants, a cropped black sweater and a yellow camisole that complemented her golden blonde hair. Her hair framed her face with loose curls, and her blue eyes pierced through the lenses of her red and black rectangular glasses. She was a tall slim girl that was most times mistaken for a model.

Carlton shot her a look and grumbled the response, "The jury is stupid!" He glared at Victoria having a celebration with her court appointed attorney. "O'Hara, I was so close. This was the fourth time she has been tried for fencing art, and this is the fourth time she was found guilty. Why don't people see that she is a criminal?"

"Carlton, may I point out that this girl is only 15? No fifteen year old knows how to do fence a Degas," Juliet explained, "Plus, if you were on the jury, would you want to be the person that puts this sweet orphan away?"

Carlton's eyes grew when the size of walnuts. Suddenly, while eating a churro, Shawn comes up and says, "Lassie, I would have thought you would have realized that by now. I'm not suggesting anything, but the spirits are telling me that people would feel better about putting a 15 year old girl away if she had parents."

Carlton stood up and said, "I am probably only going to say this once in my life, but Spencer that isn't a bad idea." So I guess it's settled. O'Hara, you are going to adopt her and look for even harder evidence. If people refuse to believe that she is a fence with the evidence we have, then we need to get even harder evidence." He stood up proud of himself and half way down the aisle when Juliet said, "I am not going to adopt someone just to put them in jail! Why don't you do it?"

Carlton pondered the idea and sat down in one of the seats. He looked at Victoria, and then back to Juliet. He looked back at Victoria, and sighed and said, "Fine, if you want this great police experience, I will gladly take it." He stood up and awkwardly walked over to Victoria looking back several times. He cleared his throat and quietly said, "I'm sorry for putting you through this so many times. I now realize that you are a good kid. And, well, uh… you have no parents and uh… I have no kids and umm… I wanted to adopt you. What do you say?"

Victoria looked him in the eye and laughed. Through her laughter she said, "Wow, you sure are funny Detective. I thought you were being serious right there." He looked at her with seriousness in his eyes and she said more compassionately, "Listen, I am not the whole parent child type. I couldn't have, with me having no parents. Also, why would I be okay with the man who wants be behind bars to be my dad. Goodbye Detective, I wouldn't be surprised if I see you again soon." She got up, said goodbye to the attorney and skipped down the aisle of the court room.

Carlton walked over to the Juliet, Shawn, and Gus. Shawn opened his mouth, but Carlton beat him to it, "She didn't want to be adopted, but I will adopt her. Her activity needs to be monitored."

~~The Station~~

"Guster, I need to borrow your car," Carlton said.

"What's wrong with yours? Last time I checked it ran," he replied.

Carlton was getting frustrated that Gus refused to cooperate. "I need it to drive to the orphanage. She would recognize my car, yours she won't. Don't give me the excuse that she has seen your car at the court house because she wouldn't make the correlation."

"Fine," Gus said, annoyed, "Take Juliet with you, I don't want you messing up my car. No adjusting the seat, no going through my glove compartment, no messing with my favorite radio stations, and no messing with my snack stash."

Shawn chimed in, "Buddy I believe your snack stash is running on empty." Gus gave him the oh-no-you-didn't face argued with him as they went down to evidence to look for interesting trinkets.

Carlton shouted, "O'Hara lets go adopt ourselves a criminal." The two walked out to the car and the first think Carlton does is adjust the seat a changes the radio station and makes it a favorite.

"Carlton, what will you do if Victoria isn't an art fence?" Juliet asked. Carlton looked at her puzzled. He looked back at the road and stayed quiet.

About three minutes passed before he said, "She is the fence O'Hara. If she isn't, then I guess I will take her back." He looked at the road while Juliet stared at him flabbergasted. She couldn't think of what to say when Carlton said, "Why are you giving me that look. I would do what any reasonable cop would do."

Juliet still stared and finally said, "That is not a reasonable thing to do. You adopt someone and find out that there not what you're looking for, so you take them back. That is the opposite of what you do.

"No matter what, you have to care for that girl. If she is a fence and she goes to jail, when she gets out if she isn't over 18, you have to care for her, make sure she gets into a good college. You have to pay for her wedding. She will forever be your daughter. You can't get her hopes up to be adopted and then crush them. That's not the kind of thing you do." Carlton opened his mouth as if to reply, but one look from Juliet to say she meant what she said and he closed his mouth and went back to driving.

Within 5 minutes they arrived at Saint Thomas of the Apostles orphanage. Juliet gave Carlton some last minute advice, "You are going to do fine. Just be cool, and level headed. Don't pull your gun, just show that you can be a good father."

He walked in the door at asked the nun at the front entrance, "Excuse me mam, can I please speak to the person in charge." She did a slight nod of the head and walked away. She returned a few minutes later with another nun at her side.

She said in a cool calm voice, "Hello sir, I am Sister Thomas. How may I be of service?"

"I wanted to ask about your adoption policies," Carlton politely replied, "I met this really sweet girl named Victoria. She said she lived here. And well I have been looking to adopt for a while, but I have always been a bit embarrassed about it. Oh my name is Carlton Lassiter."

"Well Mr. Lassiter, Victoria said that you asked her to adopt her and she said no. Now sir, would you please-"

"Wait, has she been getting into any trouble lately?" inquired Carlton

The Nun looked shocked and said, "Yes, how did you know?"

Carlton looked at her in the eye and said, "Sister, I know a psychic, and he told me to look into Victoria a bit and I have noticed that she has been hanging around the wrong crowd of people. I can help her. I am a cop."

Sister Thomas ran up and gave him a hug saying, "We have tried to discipline her, but nothing has worked. We have tried to get her to go to confession, but when she is there she says nothing. She has come home in cop cars. All I want is for her to act the way she did when she was younger."

"Sister Thomas, may I please adopt Victoria?" Carlton asked, "All I want is for her to stay out of trouble. She really is sweet."

"Yes, come and fill out some paper work," Sister Thomas said joyfully. Carlton followed Sister Thomas into her office. He filled out the paper work, showed his ID, and showed his badge to prove he was really a cop. "I'll go tell Victoria to pack her things. Would you like to help?"

Carlton responded, "I'll help her carry her things out to the car. I think I should open the trunk of the car while she is packing." Sister Thomas walked up the steps while Carlton walked out the front door to open the trunk.

When got to the car Juliet asked, "How did it go?"

Carlton looked at her and said, "I am now the proud father of one Victoria. The only problem is… I lied to a nun. I said that Spencer told me that she was getting into trouble. I have to go back in and wait for her to help bring her stuff down."

He went back in and there was Victoria coming down the steps with a suitcase and a backpack filled with all of her things. She plopped them down at Carlton's feet and glared at him. She then proceeded to walk out the front door. Carlton picked up her bags and followed. Her bags were loaded into the trunk and the car ride was a long and silent one.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

~~Lassiter's House~~

"So this is your room. If you want to paint it let me know. Uhh if you want a different bed set let me know. If you need anything let me know. Just start unpacking. Do you think you will be done by 5:00?" Lassiter said nervously.

"Ya, I should be done by 5. Why do you want to know?" Victoria asked.

"Well I wanted to take you out to dinner tonight. Is there any place you would like to go?"

Victoria started unpacking and asked, "How do you feel about kids."

Lassiter looked at her and said, "I like them if they are well behaved and quiet."

Victoria smiled. She looked and said, "Okay. Well then how about Tiki Wiki's?"

Lassiter suddenly looked very stern. He went very close to her and questioned, "That sounds like a bar. Do you drink?"

She looked astonished and responded confidently, "I am shocked Detective. How dare you think that I drink. Of course I don't." She hoped that his detective skills weren't as good as they were when he caught her the past four times he has arrested her. If they were, she was dead because he could easily tell that she is lying.

He looked suspiciously at her and asked, "Alright. What is Tiki Wiki's?"

She looked at him as if he was an idiot. She said, "How do you not know what Tiki Wiki's is!? They have some of the best pizza ever! My friends and I used to go there all the time."

Carlton looked at her and said, "Sounds like a plan. We will leave at five.

~~Tiki Wiki's~~

"You are going to love this place," Victoria said as they walked in. The inside is Hawaiian themed kid restaurant. It had one room filled with tables and another filled with games. Victoria smiled as Carlton flinched at three screaming kids ran by to go into the game room. Victoria looked at him and said, "Sorry did I forget to mention that it has an arcade?"

Carlton started turning red, but he calmed himself down and said through his teeth, "Yes you did forget that minor detail. It is okay though, I have seen worse." The waitress came over at sat the two at the booth closest to the game room. When the waitress walked away he murmured, "Just my luck."

When the waitress returned Victoria order for both herself and Carlton, "I will have a Pepsi and He will have a glass of water. We also split a plain pizza with a side of fries."

When she walked away, a gunshot was fired. Carlton jumped. Victoria said, "Relax, it's just a video game. I just don't remember it being so loud."

It fired again. Carlton said, "That is no video game. I'm going to go check it out. Stay here." He ran out the door towards the shots.

Victoria said to herself, "He actually thinks he is my father. How cute." She left $30 on the table and ran out the back door.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

~~Outside Tiki Wiki's~~

"Well the victim was shot at twice, but was only hit once. We haven't located the second bullet yet," Carlton explained.

"How do you know this man was shot at twice?" Juliet inquired

"Victoria and I were eating at a nearby restaurant, if you must know," replied Carlton.

Shawn walked up to Juliet and said, "Lassie must have been eating at Tiki Wiki's." He looked at Carlton and continued, "Why didn't you take Gus and me?"

"Spencer, this was a last minute decision made by Victoria. There were already enough kids in there. I didn't want to more being there." Everyone can see how annoyed Carlton was getting because he was starting to turn red. "McNab! Go into the restaurant and get statements from everyone in that restaurant!

McNab quickly nodded his head and ran inside with multiple pads of paper. Carlton angrily paced around the crime scene. Shawn opened his mouth to say something, but one quick glance from Carlton and it was shut again.

No one, not even Shawn, wanted to say anything. They all saw the Carlton slowly begin to release steam from the annoyance of many screaming little kids. Nobody wanted to annoy him more.

Juliet looked at her partner. She had never seen him this angry and annoyed before. She thought, _Is he up to this? Raising a 15 year old girl that has obviously had a rough childhood. Is he up to changing her for the better and making her a young lady? I hope he is. _Shawn saw her look of concern and he put one arm around her to try and comfort her a little.

About a Half hour later the silence was broken by McNab coming out of the restaurant with 3 pads of paper, filled with names of people in the restaurant and there statements'. He gave them to Carlton. He looked through all of the names and he did not see Victoria. He looked up and asked, "Where is Victoria's statement?"

McNab simply replied, "There wasn't a Victoria in there."

Carlton started to turn crimson. "Was there anyone sitting in the booth by the entrance to the game room?"

McNab hesitantly replied, "There was a bust boy there."

Carlton angrily ran to the table they were sitting at and she wasn't there. He walked up to an employee what Victoria looked like, "I'm looking for a 15 year old girl. Her name is Victoria. She is about yay big and has blonde wavy hair. Do you know where she is? She was wearing a tight black shirt, really tight jeans, and adidas sneakers."

She looked at him and said, "She walked out the back door about 45 minutes ago. Just after you left."

Carlton turned an even darker red, borderline purple. He stormed out of the restaurant and said to Juliet, "She left just after I did, giving her an approximate 45 minute head start. She could be anywhere. We have to find her. For all we know she could be setting a price for a Picasso." He ran to his car. He got in and started it. He poked his head out the window and yelled to Juliet, "You coming?"

~~ The Alley~~

"Yo Vic, long time no see!" her friend Brit said, "Where you been girl?"

"Well the cops were watching me. They still are, but I am being watched so closely that I can slip out from under their noses without them knowing." Victoria said with great pride.

"Well it is just good to have you back. Joe and Mike should be back any second," Brit said anxiously, "Joe has really missed having you around. He will be glad that his girlfriend is back to make him stop feeling like a third wheel when he is with Mike and me."

"It's true I have missed you babe." Victoria turned around and Joe and Mike were standing there. She ran up to Joe and planted one on him. "Whoa there babe. I think we should catch up first don't ya think?" Victoria stepped away and smiled then gave him a big hug.

"Yo Joe, toss me a can," Brit yelled. That is what he did. He also handed one to Mike one for Victoria. He then reached in the bag and grabbed one for himself. Joe and Victoria sat on one dumpster while Brit and Mike sat on the one on the other side of the alley.

"Okay guys, the only interesting thing that has happened recently is that I was adopted. I was taken out of a nightmare and brought into another one, much worse than the one before. I was adopted by the detective that tried putting me in jail four times," Victoria complained.

Mark laughed and said, "Now do you see why we opted to go into foster care. Complain and you're out of that house. Easy as pie." They all laughed and continued to catch up, one drink at a time.

~~The Station~~

"Carlton we looked for a half hour. We had to come back. This Case is our top priority," said Juliet

Carlton protested, "That's the thing O'Hara. We only looked for a half hour. We should look more."

Juliet replied, "This is our top priority. When she is gone for 24 hours report a missing persons report. You know the protocol just as well as I do. She probably just went home."

"Fine, I will wait. Who is this guy?"

"Woody still needs to ID the body."

Chief Vick walked out and said, "What are you two still doing here. I thought you would have gone home and waited until the morning to work on this."

Carlton looked up from his computer and said, "Well chief, I was out to dinner with my daughter, and-"

"You have a daughter?!" the chief shockingly asked, "I would have never pinned you as the fatherly type." She began to walk away but she then turned around. "As friends, I think I should give you some tips. I feel a little uneasy about you having a daughter. I will talk to you in my office." She walked over to Juliet and quietly said, "I want you helping him. I have a really bad feeling that this kid is going to turn into a gun-a-holic." The Carlton and the Chief walked into her office.

~~The Alley~~

Each of the four teenagers had at least four cans. Each couple were in there respective dumpsters making out, making a lot of noise.

A few feet away were some cops making their rounds. One officer said, "I really hate these rounds. They are always so boring. They are even worse than truant du- did you here that? I think it came from that alley. I also smell beer. This cannot be good."

The two cops walk into the alley and hear noises coming from both dumpsters. They looked in each and they found Brit, Mike, Joe and Victoria. They take out there Breathalyzer test. Brit and Victoria had BACs of .12% and Joe and Mike had BACs of about .09%. The four of them were arrested, put in the squad car, and taken back to the station


End file.
